Car load counter



2 Sheevts-Sheet l A. L. KELLEY CAR LOAD COUNTER Filed June 20, 1938 Nov. 19, 1940.

A. L. KELLEY CAR LOAD COUNTER Nov. 19, 1940.

Filed June 20, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 19, 1940 UNITED STATES PATEN'EE FHCE CAR LOAD COUNTER Arthur L. Kelley, Fresnillo, Mexico Application June 20, 1938, Serial No. 214,858

4 Claims.

This invention relates primarily to mine cars of dump type, and has as an object to provide means associated with a mine oar and operable to automatically register the number of loads of a predetermined minimum weight delivered through the agency of a given car.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved operative combination with a dump-type mine car of means automatically operable to register the number of loads of a predetermined minimum weight delivered through said car.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved combination With a dump-type mine car of means arranged to automatically register each load of predetermined minimum weight delivered through said car.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved combination with a dumpetype mine car of registering means arranged for automatic actuation as an incident of the dumping of said car when loaded to a predetermined minimum weight.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved mounting for recording apparatus in operative association with a dump-type mine car, whereby said apparatus may be automatically actuated to automatically register the number of loads of predetermined minimum weight discharged from said car.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved arrangement and combination of elements automatically operable in association with a dump-type car to register the number of loads of predetermined minimum weight discharged from said car, which arrangement is readily adaptable to mine cars and skips of conventional type and varied constructions, which is simple and relatively inexpensive of manufacture and installation, which is positive, efficient, and accurate in operation, which is adjustable to a variety of minimum load weights, and which is rugged of construction and durable in use.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of elements hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims,and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of a typical dumptype mine car wherewith the improvement is operatively associated. Figure 2 is a front end elevation of the showing of Figure l. Figure S is a fragmentary, detail section, on an enlarged scale, axially through the mounting assembly interconnecting the car body and truck. Figure 4 is a horizontal section on the same scale as and taken on the indicated line 4 4 of Figure 3. Figure 5 is a front end elevation of the assembly shown in Figures 3 and 4.

In the construction of the improvement as shown, a wheeled mine car truck of conventional type is illustrated as comprising a rigid frame t@ suitably mounted on and carried by wheels l l for translation along rails l2, wherewith is pivotally and hingedly associated a load-carrying body portion i3, of any suitable specific construction, thus mounted to swivel and tilt relative to its supporting truck for dump discharge of its load. To pivotally and hingedly mount the car body i3 on the truck assembly, a lower turn-table element i4, formed with a plane, circular upper bearing surface, is fixed to and centrally adjacent the upper side of the truck assembly in bridging relation between side portions of the frame itl, and an upper turn-table element l5, formed with a plane lower bearing surface adapted to engage and move on the bearing surface of the element i4 is superposed on and in swivel relation with said element i4, a cylindrical boss or hub i6 depending in fixed relation axially from the element i5 for engagement within a corresponding central bore in the element M tomount the element i5 for rotation concentrically of and for axial reciprocation relative to said element ifi. lhe element l5 is preferably formed with a depending annular flange ff disposed in slightly spaced,

telescoping relation about the upper circular periphery of the element M to guard against the entrance of dust, dirt, and foreign matter between the adjacent bearing surfaces of the element it! n and i5, and the bearing surfaces of .said elements are preferably recessed somewhat, as indicated at i8, to provide a shallow well or reservoir adapted to contain suitable lubricant thus disposed to minimize the friction between said bearing surfaces during a. swiveling operation of the element i5 on the element i4. The element i5 is provided with integral, apertured ears or lugs i9 rising in spaced, parallel relation from its upper surface with their apertures in alignment to support a transverse shaft 2i) journaled for rotation in said apertures and thus positioned as a chord of the element i5 above and in spaced, parallel relation with the horizontal bearing plane of said element, said shaft 2S being spaced outwardly from` the center of turn-table rotation and more nearly adjacent the periphery of the turn table than its center. The shaft 2t extends at each end outwardly beyond the lugs i9 to engage at each end through and support a bracket fitting 2l Axecl to the bottom of the car body I3, said fittings 2| being so related on the underside of said car body as to center the latter over the turn-table assembly when the shaft 2l] is engaged therethrough, as shown. Once mounted therein, the shaft 20 is fixed to the fittings 2| in any suitable manner to prevent rotation and axial displacement therebetween, set screws 22 carried by the fittings 2| for engagement with the shaft 20 being illustrated as one simple and convenient means for fixing said shaft to said fittings. On the opposite side of the element I5 from the lugs I9, suitable stop or positioning brackets 23 are formed integrally with and rise in spaced, parallel relation from said element I5 for engagement of their upper ends against bumpplates or angles 24 suitably positioned on and in fixed relation with the bottom of the car body, the height of the brackets 23 being such as to position the car body bottom in spaced, parallel relation with the bearing plane of the turn-table when said brackets are engaged against the plates or angles 24.

The construction and arrangement of elements hereabove described provides a mounting for the car body I3 on the truck frame I0 which centers said car body relative to said frame on a vertical pivot which permits free swiveling of said car body in a horizontal plane, and which hinges said car body to said frame on a transverse axis offset somewhat from the vertical pivot, so that said car body has an unbalanced weight at one end tending to maintain it in normal parallel relation with its supporting turn-table, from which position it may be moved through a vertical arc to the tilted position indicated by broken lines in Figure 1 for dump discharge of its contents. The car body I3 is preferably of a construction including an end gate or door 25 depending from a hinge at its upper margin into normally closing relation with the discharge end thereof, and manually-operable latch means 26 disposed to normally retain said door 25 in closing relation with the car body and operable to release said element 25, when desired, and thereby open the end of the car body for discharge of its contents, as is usual practice in dump-type car assemblies.

The turn-table element I5 together with the shaft 20 and car body I3 carried thereby is mounted for limited altitudinal variation of position in such manner as to normally maintain said element I5 in spaced relation above and out of bearing contact with its complementary element I4 until a load of predetermined minimum weight is accumulated in the car body, Such minimum weight load acting automatically to depress the element I5 into bearing engagement with the element I4. Various specific mounting constructions may be employed to permit the desired variation in altitudinal position of the element I5 and car body I3, and one such construction is illustrated as comprising a fixed frame element 21 bridging between side members of the frame I0 in spaced relation beneath and diametrically of the turn table element I4 and hub I6, which member 2'I xedly supports the lower end of a pivot or king pin 28 disposed to rise perpendicularly from said member 2l through an axial bore in the hub I6. The hub I6 has a length suflicient to project its lower end downwardly beyond the lower margin of the element I4 when the elements I4 and I5 are in bearing contact, and a thrust plate 29 is centered on and for reciprocation along the pin 28 to bear against the lower end of the hub I6, an expansive coil spring 30 surrounding the pin 28 between the member 21 and thrust plate 29 for expansive effect exerted between said member and plate to urge the hub I6, element I5 and associated elements, upwardly of the pin 28 to an upper limiting position indicated by broken lines in Figure 3 and determined by engagement of the thrust plate 29 against the lower margin of the element I4. The tension of the spring 30 is preferably such as will maintain the element I5 and car body I3 at the upper limit of their altitudinal variation until a load representing substantial capacity of the car body has been collected in the latter, such a load acting to overcome the resistance of the spring 30 and depress the normally elevated elements until bearing engagement between the elements I4 and I 5 is had. It will be obvious that springs 30 having definite known resistances may be interchangeably employed to vary the load requirements necessary to actuate the assembly, or that adjustment in the tension of the given spring 1nstallation may be had through the use of shims, or the like, to vary the operative load requirements.

The upper end of the pin 28 extends beyond the upper limiting position of the element I5 and rotatably supports one end of a bracket arm 3| extending radially therefrom beneath the shaft 20, which arm is provided with an elongated slot 32 wherein is loosely received a guide pin 33 rising in fixed relation from the element I5, which arrangement prevents angular displacement of the arm 3| relative to the element I5 while permitting altitudinal travel of said element relative to said arm. A leaf spring 34 is fixed at one end to an intermediate portion of the arm 3| and extends in spaced, substantially parallel relation with the outer end of said arm with its tension acting to normally urge the main portion 0f the spring away from the upper surface of said arm, suitable clips 35 formed 0n or secured to side margins of the arm 3| being provided to engage over side margins of the spring 34 and limit the separation possible between said arm and spring. A suitable counter assembly 36, of a conventional type arranged to register in single units the number of times its actuating shaft element 3'I is rotated a definite number of degrees, and provided with resetting means 38, is fixed to and above the spring 34 immediately below the shaft 20 with its registering face directed outwardly of the turn-table assembly and hence visible for convenient inspection. An actuating wheel 39 is fixed on the end of the actuating shaft 3I in the same vertical plane with and for peripheral engagement at times by an annular element 40 fixed to the shaft 2U, one or both of the elements 39 and 4D preferably having peripheral characteristics such as will insure that rotation of the one is transmitted to effect simultaneous and proportional rotation of the other when their peripheries are in contact.

Since the shaft 20 is rotatably xed in the fittings 2| and rotatably free in the ears I9, and the element 40 is fixed to said shaft, it follows that tilting of the car 'body I3 about its transverse axis for dumping of its contents results in a rotation of the shaft 20 and in a corresponding rotation of the element 4I), so that, when the car body has been loaded sufliciently to bring the element I5 into bearing engagement with the element I4 and the element 40 into peripheral contact with the actuating wheel 39, dumping of the car body contents effects rotation of the actuating wheel 39 and consequent actuation of the counter mechanism 36 to register said dumping operation as a unit in said mechanism, it being of course apparent that the normal spacing between the actuating wheel 39 and element 40 is slightly less than the limit of altitudinal travel possible between the elements i4 and l5, so that said elements 39 and 40 are in positive peripheral engagement when said elements I4 and l5 are in bearing relation, the mounting of the counter assembly 35 on the leaf spring 34 permitting said counter assembly to yield slightly toward its supporting arm 3l while maintaining peripheral contact between the elements 39 and 4t. Naturally, the diametric ratio between the elements 39 and 40 is such as will be productive oi a unit registration in the registering assembly for each complete dumping operation had relative to the car body.

The foregoing combination and arrangement of elements provides positive and ecient means for automatically registering the number of loads of a given minimum weight delivered through the agency of a car unit. Each time the car body is charged to a load Weight sufficient to bring the elements I4 and l5 into bearing engagement, the elements 39 and 40 are brought into peripheral contact so as to actuate the registering assembly and establish therein a permanent count when the particular load is dumped. A load of less than the minimum Weight will fail to actuate the mechanism, since the elements 39 and 4U are not in cooperating engagement until the required load weight is attained. The construction shown and described permits free swiveling and dumping of the car body relative to its truck mounting at all times and positions the registering mechanism to function automatically and positively irrespective of the relative position of the car body on its truck.

Since many changes in the specific form, con- 40 struction, and arrangement of the elements shown and described may be had without departing from the spirit of the invention, I wish to be understood as being limited solely by the scope of the appended claims, rather than by :L5 any details of the illustrative showing and foregoing description.

I claim as my invention: 1. In operative combination, a wheeled truck,

a turn-table assembly comprising a fixed lower l70 element and a relatively rotatable and altitudinally variable upper element, resilient means disposed to maintain said upper turn-table element in elevated relation with its complementary element and yieldable at predetermined 55 pressures topermit bearing engagement of said turn-table elements, a shaft rotatably supported transversely of said upper turnetable element, a car body xedly carried by said shaft and thereby supported in hinged and pivoted relation with @o said truck for dumping of its contents through rotation of said shaft, registering means disposed adjacent and beneath said shaft in pivotally xed relation with said upper turn-table element and in normally constant, resilientlyvariable, altitudinal relation with said lower turntable element, and means carried by said shaft engageable with said registering means when said upper turn-table element is at the lower limit of its altitudinal travel and operable as an incident of the body-dumping operation and consequent shaft rotation to actuate said registering means for automatic registration of the number of loads of weight suicient to effect engagement between the turn-table elements dumped from said body.

The combination with a wheeled truck of a dump body hingedly and pivotally associated therewith, resiliently-yieldable means operatively between said truck and body to support the latter for limited altitudinal travel relative to said truck, said means being arranged to maintain said body in elevated relation with said truck until charged with a load of predetermined minimum weight, a counter carried by altitudinallyiixed elements of said truck beneath said body, and means fixed to and for rotation and altitudinal variation with said body disposed to engage said counter when said body is at the lower limit of its altitudinal travel and automatically operable as an incident of body rotation about its hinge mounting to actuate said counter and automatically register the number of minimum weight loads discharged through dumping of the body contents.

3. In operative combination with a wheeled truck and a dump body hingedly and pivotally associated therewith, resiliently-yieldable means engaging between said truck and body to support the latter for limited altitudinal travel relative to said truck, a counter carried by altitudi nally-ixed elements of said truck, and means fixed to and for rotation and altitudinal variation with said body disposed to operatively engage said counter when said body is at the lower limit of its altitudinal travel and actuate said counter as an incident of body-dumping travel about the body hinge moiuiting to automatically register-the number of loads dumped from the body.

4. In operative combination with a wheeled truck, a dump body hingedly and pivotally associated therewith, resiliently-yieldable means engaging between said truck and body to support the latter for load-controlled altitudinal variation relative to said truck, a counter carried by altitudinally-xed elements of said truck, and means xed to and for rotation and altitudinal variation with said body disposed to engage said counter at a predetermined body load condition and actuate said counter when said body is tilted about its hinge mounting to automatically register the number of such predetermined weight loads dumped from said body.

ARTHUR L. KELLEY. 

